1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the art of electrical connectors, and especially to a pin grid array (PGA) type socket connector for electrically interconnecting an integrated circuit (IC) with a printed circuit board (PCB).
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, a PGA-type socket connector comprises a plurality of conductive terminals inserted into corresponding holes of a PCB, thereby to achieve electrical engagement between the socket connector and the PCB. With the trend toward miniaturization of electrical components, the density of the terminals arrayed in the socket connector becomes more and more high to catch up with the trend. This results increasing the density of the holes to secure the terminals, namely, a pitch of two adjacent holes in the PCB in a row or column is relatively small or short. Thus, it is increasingly difficult to drill such holes in the PCB and the risk of wastage of the drilled PCB is accordingly prone to increase.
Referring to FIGS. 14 and 15, a typical socket connector 90 comprises a plurality of terminals 92 for electrically interconnecting an IC (not shown) with a wire board 98. A tail 920 is formed at a distal end of each terminal 92 and adapted to insert into a corresponding hole 980 of the wire board 98, thereby electrically bridging the socket connector 90 and the wire board 98. With the trend toward high density of the terminals 92 arrayed in the socket connector, the holes 980 of the PCB 980, which are used to receive the terminals, must be devised to cater for the trend. As a result, the distance between two adjacent holes 980 in a row is more and more short. Thus, it becomes increasingly difficult to drill such a hole in the wire board 98 without damage to its adjacent holes 980. This increases the risk of wastage of the wire boards 98 and manufacturing costs are accordingly sharply climbed up. U.S. Pat. No. 5,320,550, assigned to Yamaichi and issued on Jun. 14, 1994, discloses a similar socket connector with the same shortcomings above-stated.
Accordingly, a new electrical connector that solves the above problems is desired.